Smart phone system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and method for remediation, curing concerns, and transferring information associated with declined transactions is disclosed. The present disclosure generally relates to electronic commerce, and more particularly, to a system and method of validation and efficiency associated with electronic commerce.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, U.S. Ser.No. 13/406,197 entitled “SMART PHONE SYSTEM AND METHOD” filed on Feb.27, 2012, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to electronic commerce, andmore particularly, to a system and method of validation and efficiencyassociated with electronic commerce.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Credit cards, charge cards, and other transaction instruments arecommonly accepted today as a form of payment under a variety ofcircumstances. A transaction instrument may be used to complete apurchase in-person (e.g., at a retail store, a restaurant, or a hotel)by physically presenting a merchant with the transaction instrument. Atransaction instrument may also be used to complete a purchase withoutphysically presenting the transaction instrument by relaying informationassociated with the transaction instrument (e.g., account number,account name, expiration date, and billing address) to a merchant, suchas though a point of sale (IPOS) device. Examples of merchants thataccept transaction account information as payment, without physicallyreceiving the transaction instrument include Internet, telephone andmail order merchants.

At times, the above commerce experience may be interrupted for variousreasons. The Consumer, Merchants and Financial Institutions have beenlimited in the tools available for resolving these interruptions. Giventhe foregoing, a strong need exists for a system, method and computerreadable medium that may be used to quickly resolve the interruption andassist with facilitating a transaction.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure includes an application to resolve a point ofsale decline in real time. A system, method and instructions stored to acomputer readable medium for curing a declined transaction authorizationrequest is presented.

In various embodiments, a method for curing a declined transactionincludes receiving a passively pushed message via an application inresponse to (and substantially in concert with) a declined transactionrequest via a merchant point of sale system. This method furtherincludes selecting an option presented in the passive pushed message,and receiving a response to the selection of the option. The responsemay instruct the transaction account holder to retry the transaction orpresent a one click option to open a communication session between thetransaction account holder and the transaction account issuer. Thismethod may include downloading, installing and logging into a computerbased application via a mobile device. A unique device ID may beassociated with the mobile device of the transaction account holder bythe transaction account issuer based on an indicator (e.g., the digitalfingerprint) of the mobile device. The transaction may be authorizedbased on both the response by the transaction account holder to thereceived message indicating that the transaction is authorized and thedigital fingerprint of a responding mobile device matching a storeddigital fingerprint of the mobile device associated with the transactionaccount holder.

The passively pushed message may be received by a mobile device. Thepoint of sale system may be a virtual or physical point of sale system.The passively pushed message may present options, such as authorizing asuspected fraudulent transaction, providing payment on the transactionaccount, and/or initiating a one click communication session.

The method may include entering data to initiate a secure log-on to theapplication. The transaction may be authorized in response to thetransaction account holder retrying the transaction. The method mayinclude directly contacting a customer service representative via themobile device in response to selection of the option to open a one clickcommunication session. A user selected response may be communicated to aprocessing system which may result in the transaction being authorizedin response to criteria being met. The criteria may include thetransaction account holder authorizing a suspected fraudulenttransaction and/or a mobile device ID matching a stored mobile device IDassociated with the transaction account holder.

The transaction may be initiated via a mobile device of the transactionaccount holder. The transaction may be authorized based on a transactionprocessor receiving a communication indicating that the transactionaccount holder submitted a valid payment via the computer basedapplication in response to the option presented in the passive pushedmessage. The transaction account holder may transmit secure log-oninformation to receive financial transaction account information andmake a payment to the transaction account. The passively pushed messagemay include a calculated minimum amount and information particular tothe instant transaction to cure the declined transaction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding may be derived by referring to thedetailed description and claims when considered in connection with theFigures, wherein like reference numbers refer to similar elementsthroughout the Figures, and:

FIG. 1 depicts a tool for resolving point of sale transaction requestdeclines in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a method for resolving a point ofsale decline in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting an exemplary computer basedinstallation and registration system for implementing variousembodiments;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart depicting a system for resolving a point of salesuspected fraud decline in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart depicting a point of sale account managementdecline resolve tool in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart depicting a point of sale decline resolve tool inaccordance with various embodiments; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart depicting a point of sale decline resolve tool inaccordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of various embodiments herein makes referenceto the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show the variousembodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodimentsmay be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, thedetailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustrationonly and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of themethod or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented. Moreover, any of the functions or stepsmay be outsourced to or performed by one or more third parties.Furthermore, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, andany reference to more than one component may include a singularembodiment.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “other embodiments”, “an example embodiment”, etc.,indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with various embodiments, it is submitted thatit is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect suchfeature, structure, or characteristic in connection with otherembodiments whether or not explicitly described. After reading thedescription, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s)how to implement the disclosure in alternative embodiments.

In various embodiments, the methods described herein are implementedusing the various particular machines described herein. The methodsdescribed herein may be implemented using the below particular machines,and those hereinafter developed, in any suitable combination, as wouldbe appreciated immediately by one skilled in the art. Further, as isunambiguous from this disclosure, the methods described herein mayresult in various transformations of certain articles.

In various embodiments, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a system forresolving POS 110 declines 100 may comprise a tool 150, such as acomputer application for resolving a point of sale transaction decline.This tool 150 for resolving a point of sale transaction decline may takethe form of application software. Application software, also known as anapplication or an “app”, is computer software designed to help the userto perform specific tasks. This application software may be a mobileapplication, also called mobile app, usually designed to run on smartphones and tablet computers; however, according to various embodiments,this mobile app may be run on any computer based system.

In various embodiments, with renewed reference to FIG. 1, the system forresolving POS declines 100 may further comprise a merchant POS 110system for accepting transaction account code information. System 100may further comprise an authorization system 120 for processing thetransaction. In various embodiments, this authorization system 120 maybe managed by the transaction account issuer.

For instance, a consumer (e.g. a transaction account holder or theirdesignee) may interact with merchant in person (e.g., at the boxoffice), telephonically, or electronically (e.g., from a user computervia a network such as the Internet or via a mobile device) to initiateand complete a transaction and/or purchase (e.g. transmit a transactionrequest). When interacting in person, the consumer may physicallypresent a transaction instrument to the merchant as a form of payment.When communicating with the merchant through a telephone or a computer(e.g., using a web enabled computer, mobile device, point of saledevice, kiosk, terminal or the like), the consumer may provideinformation associated with a transaction account (e.g., transactionaccount number or code, expiration date, account name, and billingaddress) to the merchant to complete and facilitate the transaction. Asused herein, a consumer or transaction account holder may include theholder of the account, a supplemental account holder, anyone associatedwith the account, a beneficiary of the account, a designee of theaccount and the like.

From time to time, these transaction requests are declined for variousreasons. Using the present system 100, the decline may be overcome withvarious remedial actions and/or the reason for the decline may beunderstood with greater clarity. A non-exhaustive list of reasons atransaction request may be declined comprise: suspected fraud, confirmedfraud, insufficient funds, holds placed on accounts, accounts inarrears, previous cancellation of an account, out of pattern spending,past due account, over limit account, and due to transaction accountholder preferences.

Upon receipt of a transaction request, the merchant and/or merchant POSsystem 110 may submit a transaction authorization request to anauthorization system and/or payment system to accept the transactioncode. This submitted request may be via a gateway service. Thetransaction authorization request is transmitted to the payment systemand/or authorization system 120. These authorization requests may besent to the authorization system 120 and/or transaction account issuerover, for example, any network, intranet, the Internet, wirelesscommunications, application program interface (API) and/or the like.

The merchant may also send a fraud assessment and/or request forverification services (described in further detail below) associatedwith captured and/or provided entity information, transaction instrumentdata, and payment information. Examples of this data include, forexample, an email address, a contact telephone number, a ship-to-name, aship-to-address, customer hostname, HTTP browser type, ship to country,shipping method, product SKU, number of cities, consumer trends, an IPaddress, a seller identification, and/or descriptors of goods orservices associated with the transaction.

Additionally, a fraud assessment and/or verification system may beenacted and/or requested by the authorization system 120, transactionaccount issuer, and/or a third party system. Data such as historicaldata, purchase history, purchase velocity, country code of purchase, anemail address, a contact telephone number, a ship-to-name, aship-to-address, customer hostname, HTTP browser type, ship to country,shipping method, product SKU, number of cities, consumer trends, an IPaddress, security alerts placed on an account, seller identification,and/or descriptors of goods or services associated with the transaction.

The fraud assessment and/or request for verification services may besent and/or enacted in association with a transaction authorizationrequest (e.g., parallel with a transaction authorization request, aftera transaction authorization request, in response to sending atransaction request, and/or in response to receiving a transactionrequest).

In various embodiments, a request for fraud services may includetransmitting enhanced authorization data and/or utilizing fraud tools.Examples of services, data and tools include as disclosed in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/303,018, entitled “System, Method And ComputerProgram Product For Authorizing Transactions Using EnhancedAuthorization Data,” filed Dec. 16, 2005; U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/588,811, entitled “System And Method Using Enhanced AuthorizationData To Reduce Travel Related Transaction Fraud,” filed Jun. 11, 2007;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/205,412, entitled “Method, System,And Computer Program Product For Customer-Level Data Verification,”filed Sep. 5, 2008; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/874,063,entitled “Application Program Interface Based Fraud Mitigation,” filedSep. 1, 2010; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/948,629, “InternetFacilitation of Fraud Services” filed Nov. 17, 2010; the contents of alldocuments are hereby incorporated by reference for any purpose in theirentirety.

The result of the fraud assessment may be to transmit a notice to themerchant, via the PAS system 120 to decline the transaction.Historically, a consumer might not be able to overcome this declinewithout seeking out and contacting their transaction account issuer. Inthis case a transaction account holder may be embarrassed and attempt toprocess the transaction using a different transaction account. In mostinstances, resolving the issue requires the user to determine and locatethe appropriate contact information well after time to consummate thetransaction has passed. The present system 100 is configured to overcomethese and other problems associated with a declined transactionsubstantially simultaneously with the declined transaction.

In various embodiments, and with reference to FIG. 3, a transactionaccount holder may join the system 100. Joining the system 100 may takeany suitable form. For instance, joining the system 100 may occur aspart of the transaction account application process, as an active stepinitiated by the transaction account holder, and/or initiated by thetransaction account issuer in response to a condition. The condition maybe that the transaction account holder is associated with an activetransaction account, or that the transaction account holder haspreviously downloaded an application, or that the transaction accountholder meets pre-selected criteria.

In various embodiments, with reference to FIG. 3, a transaction accountholder may download and install the tool 150 for resolving a point ofsale 110 transaction decline, such as app 151 (310) via and/or on amobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet. This app 151 may be partof a larger application suite providing additional services or may be astand alone module/app. The transaction account holder may then log ontoapp 151 via the mobile device. This log on may be accomplished usingpreviously established data such as internal data, and/or data used forelectronically logging into a user's account via the internet or viaanother related mobile app. Associated with this log on may be anidentification process and association process. The transaction accountholder may enter their transaction account code, and/or pass code (320).This pass code may be previously stored and/or communicated to the userthrough secure channels. The issuer may assign a unique device ID linkedto the mobile device of the transaction account holder (330). The uniqueID may be based on and associated with the hardware characteristicsand/or electronic fingerprint of the mobile device.

In various embodiments, with reference to FIG. 4, a POS 110 transactionis declined. In various embodiments, the transaction is declined due tosuspected fraud (410). In response to the suspected fraud and/ordeclined transaction, a message is passively pushed to the mobile deviceapp 151 (415). Stated another way, the message is passively transmittedto the mobile device in response to the declined transaction. In variousembodiments, the user does not actively enter information describingdetails of the transaction into and/or via app 151. App 151 is populatedwith the transaction information and displays a message on the mobiledevice. In various embodiments, the system 100 is configured so thetransaction account holder merely reads the message and selects/triggerspresented options via virtual button(s), such as selecting “yes” orselecting “no” (430). The issuer system verifies the hardwarecharacteristics, electronic fingerprint and/or unique device IDassociated with the mobile device in response to the selected/triggeredoption (420). In response to at least one of the mobile device IDmatching the stored mobile device ID and the transaction account holderverifying that they do wish for the transaction to occur, a message istransmitted to the transaction processor to approve subsequenttransactions for a pre-selected period time (445). In variousembodiments, if the mobile device ID does not match the stored mobiledevice ID, the user may be prompted to provide additional verificationinformation, such as a log-on and password. In response to thetransaction processor receiving the message to approve subsequenttransactions for a pre-selected period of time, a message may be pushedto the app 151 requesting that the transaction account holder attemptthe purchase again (450). The pre-selected period of time may be anysuitable period of time, such as an hour, a day, a week, a period ofweeks and/or the like. A record of the initial transaction decline andthe reply to the message selected by the app 151 user may be stored forlater retrieval, such as when a charge is disputed.

In response to at least one of the mobile device ID or the transactionaccount holder not authorizing the transaction, a message with furtherinstructions may be presented to the transaction account holder via app151 (449). The message with further instructions may comprise a messagestating “please click to call our customer care professionals” with atrigger-able “call” virtual button option. In response totriggering/selecting the “call” option, the mobile device mayautomatically place a mobile device call to a support number to assistwith the transaction accountholder's needs. In this embodiment, atransaction account holder need only touch two buttons to be placed incontact with support. Namely, these two buttons are “no” indicating thatthe charge is not approved and “call” to be placed in contact withcustomer support. Additionally, an option to begin an electronicmessaging session or send electronic correspondence also be available oralternatively available. In various embodiments, frequently askedquestion (FAQ) information may be presented to the transaction accountholder via the mobile device app 151. In various embodiments, furtherinformation, such as the steps needed to resolve the issue are presentedto the user via app 151 or through secondary communication channels.

In various embodiments, a message that a POS 110 transaction which mayneed to be declined due to suspected fraud (not depicted) is sent totransaction issuer system. In response to the message that a transactionmay need to be declined, a message is pushed to the mobile device app151. App 151 is populated with the transaction information and displaysa message on the mobile device. In various embodiments, the system 100is configured so the transaction account holder merely reads the messageand selects/triggers, such as selecting “yes” or selecting “no”, to apresented option. The issuer system verifies the unique device IDassociated with the mobile device responding to the presented option. Inresponse to both the mobile device ID and the transaction account holderverifying and indicating through selection that they do wish for thetransaction to occur, a message is transmitted to the transactionprocessor to approve the transaction flagged as potentially needing tobe declined. In response to the transaction processor receiving themessage to approve the transaction the transaction processor processesthe transaction. Should a reply to the message, not be returned within apredetermined period, the transaction is declined. In response to thetransaction processor receiving the message rejecting (not approve) thetransaction the transaction processor declines the transaction. Invarious embodiments, the transaction holder may not need to initiate thetransaction a second time.

With reference to FIG. 5, a POS 110 transaction is declined. In variousembodiments, the transaction is declined due to the presentedtransaction account having a status of “past due” (515). In response tothe status being identified as “past due” a message is pushed to themobile device app 151 (517). In various embodiments, the user does notactively enter information describing details of the transaction intoapp 151. App 151 is populated with the transaction information anddisplays a message on the mobile device. In various embodiments, thesystem 100 is configured so the transaction account holder is presentedwith information describing the nature of the decline. In variousembodiments, the transaction account holder may be presented withinformation describing the nature of the decline and presented with anoption to rectify the problem. For instance, as depicted in FIG. 5, themobile device may indicate that a particular charge was declined andrequest that the transaction account holder securely sign in. Inresponse to the transaction account holder securely signing in, amessage describing that the transaction account holder is past due isdisplayed on the mobile device via app 151. The transaction accountholder may enter information and/or make a selection to change theaccount status from “past due.” For instance, a transaction accountholder may enter a payment amount (from a previously establishedinternal data such as a payment source) into a field or throughselection of presented options in app 151. This payment amount may be aminimum payment, the entire amount past due or another desired amount(preferably above the minimum) (525). In response to the payment amountbeing selected/entered and the transfer being confirmed from the fundingsource, a message is populated on app 151 requesting that thetransaction be retried (535).

With reference again to FIG. 5 (a POS 110 transaction is declined), invarious embodiments, the transaction is declined due to the presentedtransaction account having a status of “over limit” (510). In responseto the status being identified as “over limit” a message is pushed tomobile device app 151 (517). In various embodiments, the user does notactively enter information describing details of the transaction intoapp 151. App 151 is populated with the transaction information (by thetransaction processor 120) and displays a message on the mobile device.In various embodiments, the system 100 is configured so the transactionaccount holder is presented with information describing the nature ofthe decline. In various embodiments, the transaction account holder ispresented with information describing the nature of the decline andpresented with an option to rectify the problem. For instance, asdepicted in FIG. 5, the mobile device may indicate that a particularcharge was declined and request that the transaction account holdersecurely sign in. In response to the transaction account holder securelysigning in, a message describing that the transaction account holder isover their limit is presented on the mobile device via app 151. Thetransaction account holder may enter information and/or make a selectionto change the account status from “over limit.” For instance, atransaction account holder may enter a payment amount (from a previouslyestablished payment source) into a field or through selection ofpresented options in app 151. This payment amount may be a minimumpayment, such as the amount needed for the instant transaction to beprocessed (as calculated by app 151), the current balance, or anotherdesired amount (preferably above the minimum to enable the processing ofthe instant transaction) (520). In response to the payment amount beingselected/entered and the transfer being confirmed from the fundingsource a message is populated on app 151 requesting that the transactionbe tried again (535).

With reference to FIG. 6, a POS 110 transaction is declined for anyreason (610). These reasons may include, suspected fraud, confirmedfraud, past due account, over limit account, those subject to a creditconcern, geographic irregularities, cancelled account, out-of-patternspending, value of transaction, velocity of transactions and/or thelike. In response to the transaction being declined, the transactionissuer pushes a message to app 151 with specific information describingthe transaction (620). The message may further comprise a virtual“button” for selection by app 151 user to contact a customer careprofessional. In response to selection of the button, the app 151 user(transaction account holder) is connected with the customer careprofessional (630). The issuer system may verify the device ID to helpstreamline the authorization process between the app 151 user and thecustomer care professional. The customer care professional may describethe reason given for the transaction being declined and offer solutionsto cure the issue. In this embodiment, the transaction account holderneed only select one virtual button to be placed in contact with supportvia the mobile device.

With reference to FIG. 7, a high level of the present system isdepicted. In various embodiments, the transaction account holderdownloads and/or installs app 151 (310). The transaction account holder(app 151 user) securely logs on to app 151 (315). The issuerauthenticates the user and the mobile device (320). A unique ID isassociated with the mobile device (330). At some point, after thisprocess is complete, the transaction account holder provides theirtransaction account code to a merchant to facilitate a transaction. Thistransaction may be declined (410, 510, 515, 610). Substantiallysimultaneously (or any other time period) with the merchant receiving anindication that the transaction is declined, a message associated withthe decline is pushed to the mobile device of the transaction accountholder (415, 517, 620). This message may indicate that user approval ofthe charge is required, a payment is needed on the account or a call tocustomer service should be made to remediate and/or cure the concernassociated with the transaction account. For instance, a user mayconfirm the charge (415), the user may make a payment via app 151 (520,525), or the user may initiate a call to customer service with one touch(630). Upon receipt of the return message from the user, the informationprovided may be verified, (e.g. user authorization instructions, deviceID, payment information verified and receipt confirmed and/or a customerservice representative and/or automated system may be contacted) (420,535). The transaction processor may be instructed to authorizetransactions of a particular amount and/or for a limited duration inresponse to receiving the message and/or payment data from the user viaapp 151. The transaction may be approved and/or instructions for theuser to attempt the transaction a second time may be communicated to themerchant and/or app 151 user (445).

In various embodiments, multiple transaction accounts may be associatedwith the app 151 user. Similarly, multiple mobile devices of thetransaction account holder may be associated with app 151. In variousembodiments, app 151 may facilitate linking a payment source and/or anadditional payment source. Data may be transmitted to and from themobile device via Wifi, mobile network provider, GSM (Global System forMobile Communications, CDMA (Code division multiple access), satellite,and/or wireless broadband data network, and/or a combination thereof. Invarious embodiments, the user does not need to securely log into app 151to reply to a message or initiate a communication session with theissuer and/or customer care representative. In various embodiments, amerchant need not be involved in curing the decline transaction morethat initially receiving the transaction account information two times.In some embodiments, the merchant may relay to the transaction accountholder that the transaction is declined.

In various embodiments, it is contemplated that a user may initiate thetransaction via the mobile device through a merchant's virtual POS 110and in the instance of a decline, use the same mobile device and app 151to cure the declined transaction. In various embodiments, a user mayinitiate the transaction via a merchant's virtual POS 110 and in theinstance of a decline, use a mobile device and app 151 to cure thedeclined transaction.

For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems (and componentsof the individual operating components of the systems) may not bedescribed in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown inthe various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical system.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used hereinmay include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the system. As those skilledin the art will appreciate, user computer may include an operatingsystem (e.g., Windows NT, Windows 95/98/2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista,Windows 7, Windows 8, OS2, UNIX, Linux, Solaris, MacOS, etc.) as well asvarious conventional support software and drivers typically associatedwith computers. A user may include any individual, business, entity,government organization, software and/or hardware that interact with asystem.

A user may facilitate transactions via a web client. A web clientincludes any device (e.g., personal computer) which communicates via anynetwork, for example such as those discussed herein. Such browserapplications comprise Internet browsing software installed within acomputing unit or a system to conduct online transactions and/orcommunications. These computing units or systems may take the form of acomputer or set of computers, although other types of computing units orsystems may be used, including laptops, notebooks, tablets, hand heldcomputers, personal digital assistants, set-top boxes, workstations,computer-servers, main frame computers, mini-computers, PC servers,pervasive computers, network sets of computers, personal computers, suchas iPads, iMACs, and MacBooks, kiosks, terminals, point of sale (POS)devices and/or terminals, televisions, or any other device capable ofreceiving data over a network. A web-client may run Microsoft InternetExplorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or any other ofthe myriad software packages available for browsing the internet.

Practitioners will appreciate that a web client may or may not be indirect contact with an application server. For example, a web client mayaccess the services of an application server through another serverand/or hardware component, which may have a direct or indirectconnection to an Internet server. For example, a web client maycommunicate with an application server via a load balancer. In variousembodiments, access is through a network or the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, a web client includes anoperating system (e.g., Windows NT, 95/98/2000/CE/Mobile, OS2, UNIX,Linux, Solaris, MacOS, PalmOS, etc.) as well as various conventionalsupport software and drivers typically associated with computers. A webclient may include any suitable personal computer, network computer,workstation, personal digital assistant, cellular phone, smart phone,minicomputer, mainframe or the like. A web client can be in a home orbusiness environment with access to a network. In various embodiments,access is through a network or the Internet through a commerciallyavailable web-browser software package. A web client may implementsecurity protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and TransportLayer Security (TLS). A web client may implement several applicationlayer protocols including http, https, ftp, and sftp.

In various embodiments, various components, modules, and/or engines ofsystem 100 may be implemented as micro-applications or micro-apps.Micro-apps are typically deployed in the context of a mobile operatingsystem, including for example, a Palm mobile operating system, a Windowsmobile operating system, an Android Operating System, Apple iOS, aBlackberry operating system and the like. The micro-app may beconfigured to leverage the resources of the larger operating system andassociated hardware via a set of predetermined rules which govern theoperations of various operating systems and hardware resources. Forexample, where a micro-app desires to communicate with a device ornetwork other than the mobile device or mobile operating system, themicro-app may leverage the communication protocol of the operatingsystem and associated device hardware under the predetermined rules ofthe mobile operating system. Moreover, where the micro-app desires aninput from a user, the micro-app may be configured to request a responsefrom the operating system which monitors various hardware components andthen communicates a detected input from the hardware to the micro-app.

As used herein, the term “network” includes any cloud, cloud computingsystem or electronic communications system or method which incorporateshardware and/or software components. Communication among the parties maybe accomplished through any suitable communication channels, such as,for example, a telephone network, an extranet, an intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant (e.g., iPhone®, Palm Pilot®, Blackberry®), cellular phone,kiosk, etc.), online communications, satellite communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, transponder communications,local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), virtual privatenetwork (VPN), networked or linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or anysuitable communication or data input modality. Moreover, although thesystem is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, the system may also be implemented using IPX,Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec, SSH),or any number of existing or future protocols. If the network is in thenature of a public network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageousto presume the network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers.Specific information related to the protocols, standards, andapplication software utilized in connection with the Internet isgenerally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not bedetailed herein. See, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS ANDPROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999);DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IPCLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997) and DAVID GOURLEY AND BRIAN TOTTY, HTTP, THEDEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002), the contents of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

The various system components may be independently, separately orcollectively suitably coupled to the network via data links whichincludes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider(ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection withstandard modem communication, cable modem, Dish networks, ISDN, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods, see,e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which ishereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use,sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein.

“Cloud” or “Cloud computing” includes a model for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services)that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal managementeffort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing may includelocation-independent computing, whereby shared servers provideresources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand.For more information regarding cloud computing, see the NIST's (NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology) definition of cloud computing athttp://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/cloud-def-v15.doc (lastvisited Feb. 4, 2011), which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

As used herein, “issue a debit”, “debit” or “debiting” refers to eithercausing the debiting of a stored value or prepaid card-type financialaccount, or causing the charging of a credit or charge card-typefinancial account, as applicable.

Phrases and terms similar to an “item” may include any good, service,information, experience, data, content, access, rental, lease,contribution, account, credit, debit, benefit, right, reward, points,coupons, credits, monetary equivalent, anything of value, something ofminimal or no value, monetary value, non-monetary value and/or the like.

The system contemplates uses in association with web services, utilitycomputing, pervasive and individualized computing, security and identitysolutions, autonomic computing, cloud computing, commodity computing,mobility and wireless solutions, open source, biometrics, grid computingand/or mesh computing.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons,any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of thesystem may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

Encryption may be performed by way of any of the techniques nowavailable in the art or which may become available—e.g., Twofish, RSA,El Gamal, Schorr signature, DSA, PGP, PKI, and symmetric and asymmetriccryptosystems.

The computing unit of the web client may be further equipped with anInternet browser connected to the Internet or an intranet using standarddial-up, cable, DSL or any other Internet protocol known in the art.Transactions originating at a web client may pass through a firewall inorder to prevent unauthorized access from users of other networks.Further, additional firewalls may be deployed between the varyingcomponents of CMS to further enhance security.

Firewall may include any hardware and/or software suitably configured toprotect CMS components and/or enterprise computing resources from usersof other networks. Further, a firewall may be configured to limit orrestrict access to various systems and components behind the firewallfor web clients connecting through a web server. Firewall may reside invarying configurations including Stateful Inspection, Proxy based,access control lists, and Packet Filtering among others. Firewall may beintegrated within a web server or any other CMS components or mayfurther reside as a separate entity. A firewall may implement networkaddress translation (“NAT”) and/or network address port translation(“NAPT”). A firewall may accommodate various tunneling protocols tofacilitate secure communications, such as those used in virtual privatenetworking. A firewall may implement a demilitarized zone (“DMZ”) tofacilitate communications with a public network such as the Internet. Afirewall may be integrated as software within an Internet server, anyother application server components or may reside within anothercomputing device or may take the form of a standalone hardwarecomponent.

The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable website or otherInternet-based graphical user interface which is accessible by users. Inone embodiment, the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS),Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and Microsoft SQL Server, are usedin conjunction with the Microsoft operating system, Microsoft NT webserver software, a Microsoft SQL Server database system, and a MicrosoftCommerce Server. Additionally, components such as Access or MicrosoftSQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc., may be usedto provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant database managementsystem. In one embodiment, the Apache web server is used in conjunctionwith a Linux operating system, a MySQL database, and the Perl, PHP,and/or Python programming languages.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that might be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical website might include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, activeserver pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensiblemarkup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), AJAX(Asynchronous Javascript And XML), helper applications, plug-ins, andthe like. A server may include a web service that receives a requestfrom a web server, the request including a URL(http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789.234).The web server retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data orapplications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services areapplications that are capable of interacting with other applicationsover a communications means, such as the internet. Web services aretypically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, AJAX, WSDLand UDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and arecovered in many standard texts. See, e.g., ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES:A ROADMAP FOR THE ENTERPRISE (2003), hereby incorporated by reference.

Middleware may include any hardware and/or software suitably configuredto facilitate communications and/or process transactions betweendisparate computing systems. Middleware components are commerciallyavailable and known in the art. Middleware may be implemented throughcommercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardwareand/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Middlewaremay reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalonesystem or may be a software component residing on the Internet server.Middleware may be configured to process transactions between the variouscomponents of an application server and any number of internal orexternal systems for any of the purposes disclosed herein. WebSphere MQ™(formerly MQSeries) by IBM, Inc. (Armonk, N.Y.) is an example of acommercially available middleware product. An Enterprise Service Bus(“ESB”) application is another example of middleware.

Practitioners will also appreciate that there are a number of methodsfor displaying data within a browser-based document. Data may berepresented as standard text or within a fixed list, scrollable list,drop-down list, editable text field, fixed text field, pop-up window,and the like. Likewise, there are a number of methods available formodifying data in a web page such as, for example, free text entry usinga keyboard, selection of menu items, check boxes, option boxes, and thelike.

The system and method may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the systemmay employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the system may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, VBScript,Macromedia Cold Fusion, COBOL, Microsoft Active Server Pages, assembly,PERL, PHP, awk, Python, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, PL/SQL, anyUNIX shell script, and extensible markup language (XML) with the variousalgorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, itshould be noted that the system may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. Still further, the system could be used to detector prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, suchas JavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction ofcryptography and network security, see any of the following references:(1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition,1995); (2) “Java Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published byO'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security:Principles & Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall;all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

As used herein, the term “end user”, “consumer”, “customer”,“transaction account holder”, “app 151 user”, “cardmember”, “business”or “merchant” may be used interchangeably with each other, and eachshall mean any person, entity, machine, hardware, software or business.A bank may be part of the system, but the bank may represent other typesof card issuing institutions, such as credit card companies, cardsponsoring companies, or third party issuers under contract withfinancial institutions. It is further noted that other participants maybe involved in some phases of the transaction, such as an intermediarysettlement institution, but these participants are not shown.

Each participant may be equipped with a computing device in order tointeract with the system and facilitate online commerce transactions.The customer has a computing unit in the form of a personal computer,although other types of computing units may be used including laptops,notebooks, hand held computers, set-top boxes, cellular telephones,tablets, touch-tone telephones and the like. The merchant has acomputing unit implemented in the form of a computer-server, althoughother implementations are contemplated by the system. The bank has acomputing center shown as a main frame computer. However, the bankcomputing center may be implemented in other forms, such as amini-computer, a PC server, a network of computers located in the sameof different geographic locations, or the like. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale or distribution of any goods, services orinformation over any network having similar functionality describedherein

The merchant computer and the bank computer may be interconnected via asecond network, referred to as a payment network. The payment networkwhich may be part of certain transactions represents existingproprietary networks that presently accommodate transactions for creditcards, debit cards, and other types of financial/banking cards. Thepayment network is a closed network that is assumed to be secure fromeavesdroppers. Exemplary transaction networks may include the AmericanExpress®, VisaNet® and the Veriphone® networks.

The electronic commerce system may be implemented at the customer andissuing bank. In an exemplary implementation, the electronic commercesystem is implemented as computer software modules loaded onto thecustomer computer and the banking computing center. The merchantcomputer does not require any additional software to participate in theonline commerce transactions supported by the online commerce system.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the systemmay be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-onproduct, a processing apparatus executing upgraded software, a standalone system, a distributed system, a method, a data processing system,a device for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, any portion of the system or a module may take the form ofa processing apparatus executing code, an internet based embodiment, anentirely hardware embodiment, or various embodiments combining aspectsof the internet, software and hardware. Furthermore, the system may takethe form of a computer program product on a computer-readable storagemedium having computer-readable program code means embodied in thestorage medium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may beutilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices,magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

The system and method is described herein with reference to screenshots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus(e.g., systems), and computer program products according to variousembodiments. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-7 the process flows depicted are merelyembodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.For example, the steps recited in any of the method or processdescriptions may be executed in any order and are not limited to theorder presented.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser windows, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc. Practitionerswill appreciate that the illustrated steps described herein may comprisein any number of configurations including the use of windows, webpages,web forms, popup windows, prompts and the like. It should be furtherappreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may becombined into single webpages and/or windows but have been expanded forthe sake of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and describedas single process steps may be separated into multiple webpages and/orwindows but have been combined for simplicity.

The term “non-transitory” is to be understood to remove only propagatingtransitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquishrights to all standard computer-readable media that are not onlypropagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaningof the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” should beconstrued to exclude only those types of transitory computer-readablemedia which were found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope ofpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure isaccordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, inwhich reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one ormore.” Moreover, where a phrase similar to ‘at least one of A, B, and C’or ‘at least one of A, B, or C’ is used in the claims or specification,it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone maybe present in various embodiments, B alone may be present in variousembodiments, C alone may be present in various embodiments, or that anycombination of the elements A, B and C may be present in a singleembodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C.Although the disclosure includes a method, it is contemplated that itmay be embodied as computer program instructions on a tangiblecomputer-readable carrier, such as a magnetic or optical memory or amagnetic or optical disk. All structural, chemical, and functionalequivalents to the elements of the above-described various embodimentsthat are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expresslyincorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed bythe present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or methodto address each and every problem sought to be solved by the presentdisclosure, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore,no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether theelement, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims.No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for.” As used herein, the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover anon-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus.

In yet another embodiment, the transponder, transponder-reader, and/ortransponder-reader system are configured with a biometric securitysystem that may be used for providing biometrics as a secondary form ofidentification. The biometric security system may include a transponderand a reader communicating with the system. The biometric securitysystem also may include a biometric sensor that detects biometricsamples and a device for verifying biometric samples. The biometricsecurity system may be configured with one or more biometric scanners,processors and/or systems. A biometric system may include one or moretechnologies, or any portion thereof, such as, for example, recognitionof a biometric. As used herein, a biometric may include a user's voice,fingerprint, facial, ear, signature, vascular patterns, DNA sampling,hand geometry, sound, olfactory, keystroke/typing, iris, retinal or anyother biometric relating to recognition based upon any body part,function, system, attribute and/or other characteristic, or any portionthereof.

Phrases and terms similar to an “entity” may include any individual,consumer, customer, group, business, organization, government entity,transaction account issuer or processor (e.g., credit, charge, etc),merchant, consortium of merchants, account holder, charitableorganization, software, hardware, and/or any other type of entity. Theterms “user,” “consumer,” “purchaser,” and/or the plural form of theseterms are used interchangeably throughout herein to refer to thosepersons or entities that are alleged to be authorized to use atransaction account.

Phrases and terms similar to “account”, “account number”, “account code”or “consumer account” as used herein, may include any device, code(e.g., one or more of an authorization/access code, personalidentification number (“PIN”), Internet code, other identification code,and/or the like), number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, smartchip, digital signal, analog signal, biometric or otheridentifier/indicia suitably configured to allow the consumer to access,interact with or communicate with the system. The account number mayoptionally be located on or associated with a rewards account, chargeaccount, credit account, debit account, prepaid account, telephone card,embossed card, ewallet, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card,transponder, radio frequency card or an associated account.

The system may include or interface with any of the foregoing accounts,devices, and/or a transponder and reader (e.g. RFID reader) in RFcommunication with the transponder (which may include a fob), orcommunications between an initiator and a target enabled by near fieldcommunications (NFC). Typical devices may include, for example, a keyring, tag, card, cell phone, wristwatch or any such form capable ofbeing presented for interrogation. Moreover, the system, computing unitor device discussed herein may include a “pervasive computing device,”which may include a traditionally non-computerized device that isembedded with a computing unit. Examples may include watches, Internetenabled kitchen appliances, restaurant tables embedded with RF readers,wallets or purses with imbedded transponders, etc. Furthermore, a deviceor financial transaction instrument may have electronic andcommunications functionality enabled, for example, by: a network ofelectronic circuitry that is printed or otherwise incorporated onto orwithin the transaction instrument (and typically referred to as a “smartcard”); a fob having a transponder and an RFID reader; and/or near fieldcommunication (NFC) technologies. For more information regarding NFC,refer to the following specifications all of which are incorporated byreference herein: ISO/IEC 18092/ECMA-340, Near Field CommunicationInterface and Protocol-1 (NFCIP-1); ISO/IEC 21481/ECMA-352. Near FieldCommunication Interface and Protocol-2 (NFCIP-2); and EMV 4.2.

The account number may be distributed and stored in any form of plastic,electronic, magnetic, radio frequency, wireless, audio and/or opticaldevice capable of transmitting or downloading data from itself to asecond device. A consumer account number/code may be, for example, asixteen-digit account number, although each credit provider has its ownnumbering system, such as the fifteen-digit numbering system used byAmerican Express. Each company's account numbers comply with thatcompany's standardized format such that the company using afifteen-digit format will generally use three-spaced sets of numbers, asrepresented by the number “0000 000000 00000”. The first five to sevendigits are reserved for processing purposes and identify the issuingbank, account type, etc. In this example, the last (fifteenth) digit isused as a sum check for the fifteen digit number. The intermediaryeight-to-eleven digits are used to uniquely identify the consumer. Amerchant account number may be, for example, any number or alpha-numericcharacters that identify a particular merchant for purposes of accountacceptance, account reconciliation, reporting, or the like.

Phrases and terms similar to “transaction account” may include anyaccount that may be used to facilitate a financial transaction.

Phrases and terms similar to “financial institution” or “transactionaccount issuer” may include any entity that offers transaction accountservices. Although often referred to as a “financial institution,” thefinancial institution may represent any type of bank, lender or othertype of account issuing institution, such as credit card companies, cardsponsoring companies, or third party issuers under contract withfinancial institutions. It is further noted that other participants maybe involved in some phases of the transaction, such as an intermediarysettlement institution.

Phrases and terms similar to “business” or “merchant” may be usedinterchangeably with each other and shall mean any person, entity,distributor system, software and/or hardware that is a provider, brokerand/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods or services.For example, a merchant may be a grocery store, a retail store, a travelagency, a service provider, an on-line merchant or the like.

The terms “payment vehicle,” “financial transaction instrument,”“transaction instrument” and/or the plural form of these terms may beused interchangeably throughout to refer to a financial instrument.

Phrases and terms similar to “merchant,” “supplier” or “seller” mayinclude any entity that receives payment or other consideration. Forexample, a supplier may request payment for goods sold to a buyer whoholds an account with a transaction account issuer.

Phrases and terms similar to a “buyer” may include any entity thatreceives goods or services in exchange for consideration (e.g. financialpayment). For example, a buyer may purchase, lease, rent, barter orotherwise obtain goods from a supplier and pay the supplier using atransaction account.

Phrases and terms similar to “internal data” may include any data acredit issuer possesses or acquires pertaining to a particular consumer.Internal data may be gathered before, during, or after a relationshipbetween the credit issuer and the transaction account holder (e.g., theconsumer or buyer). Such data may include consumer demographic data.Consumer demographic data includes any data pertaining to a consumer.Consumer demographic data may include consumer name, address, telephonenumber, email address, employer and social security number. Consumertransactional data is any data pertaining to the particular transactionsin which a consumer engages during any given time period. Consumertransactional data may include, for example, transaction amount,transaction time, transaction vendor/merchant, and transactionvendor/merchant location. Transaction vendor/merchant location maycontain a high degree of specificity to a vendor/merchant. For example,transaction vendor/merchant location may include a particular gasolinefiling station in a particular postal code located at a particular crosssection or address. Also, for example, transaction vendor/merchantlocation may include a particular web address, such as a UniformResource Locator (“URL”), an email address and/or an Internet Protocol(“IP”) address for a vendor/merchant. Transaction vendor/merchant, andtransaction vendor/merchant location may be associated with a particularconsumer and further associated with sets of consumers. Consumer paymentdata includes any data pertaining to a consumer's history of paying debtobligations. Consumer payment data may include consumer payment dates,payment amounts, transaction account codes, balance amount, and creditlimit. Internal data may further comprise records of consumer servicecalls, complaints, requests for credit line increases, questions, andcomments. A record of a consumer service call includes, for example,date of call, reason for call, and any transcript or summary of theactual call.

Phrases similar to a “payment processor” may include a company (e.g., athird party) appointed (e.g., by a merchant) to handle transactions formerchant banks. Payment processors may be broken down into two types:front-end and back-end. Front-end payment processors have connections tovarious transaction accounts and supply authorization and settlementservices to the merchant banks' merchants. Back-end payment processorsaccept settlements from front-end payment processors and, via TheFederal Reserve Bank, move money from an issuing bank to the merchantbank. In an operation that will usually take a few seconds, the paymentprocessor will both check the details received by forwarding the detailsto the respective account's issuing bank or card association forverification, and may carry out a series of anti-fraud measures againstthe transaction. Additional parameters, including the account's countryof issue and its previous payment history, may be used to gauge theprobability of the transaction being approved. In response to thepayment processor receiving confirmation that the transaction accountdetails have been verified, the information may be relayed back to themerchant, who will then complete the payment transaction. In response tothe verification being denied, the payment processor relays theinformation to the merchant, who may then decline the transaction.Phrases similar to a “payment gateway” or “gateway” may include anapplication service provider service that authorizes payments fore-businesses, online retailers, and/or traditional brick and mortarmerchants. The gateway may be the equivalent of a physical point of saleterminal located in most retail outlets. A payment gateway may protecttransaction account details by encrypting sensitive information, such astransaction account numbers, to ensure that information passes securelybetween the customer and the merchant and also between merchant andpayment processor.

Phrases similar to a “card” may include a transaction instrument such asa charge card, credit card, debit card, ewallet, awards card, prepaidcard, telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card,transponder, radio frequency card and/or the like having an accountnumber, which cardholders typically present to Service Establishments(SEs), as part of a transaction, such as a purchase. An “accountnumber”, as used herein, includes any device, code, number, letter,symbol, digital certificate, smart chip, digital signal, analog signal,biometric or other identifier/indicia suitably configured to allow theconsumer to interact or communicate with the system, such as, forexample, authorization/access code, personal identification number(PIN), Internet code, other identification code, and/or the like whichis optionally located on card. The account number may be distributed andstored in any form of plastic, electronic, magnetic, radio frequency,wireless, audio and/or optical device capable of transmitting ordownloading data from itself to a second device. A customer accountnumber may be, for example, a sixteen-digit credit card number, althougheach credit provider has its own numbering system, such as thefifteen-digit numbering system used by American Express. Each company'scredit card numbers comply with that company's standardized format suchthat the company using a sixteen-digit format will generally use fourspaced sets of numbers, as represented by the number “0000 0000 00000000”. The first five to seven digits are reserved for processingpurposes and identify the issuing bank, card type and etc. In thisexample, the last sixteenth digit is used as a sum check for thesixteen-digit number. The intermediary eight-to-ten digits are used touniquely identify the customer.

Phrases similar to a transaction account holder/cardmember may includean entity, typically an individual person or corporation, that has beenissued a transaction account or is authorized to use a card.

Phrases similar to “issuer” may include a bank or other financialinstitution typically operating under regulations of a card issuingassociation or entity and which issues cards to cardmembers under acardmember agreement for a cardmember account.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computer based system for processing a transaction, a transaction request from a merchant point of sale system; declining, by the computer based system, the transaction request; transmitting, by the computer based system, a passive pushed message to an application associated with a transaction account holder, in response to and substantially in concert with the declined transaction request; receiving, by the computer based system, a response to the passive pushed message; storing, by the computer based system, a preauthorization of a second attempt of the transaction request in response to the response to the passive pushed message meeting pre-established criteria; transmitting, by the computer based system, a second pushed message to the application associated with the transaction account holder; receiving, by the computer based system; the second attempt of the transaction request from the merchant point of sale system; and authorizing, by the computer based system, the second attempt of the transaction request.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the passively pushed message is transmitted to a mobile device of the transaction account holder.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, by the computer based system, device characteristics of the mobile device associated with the transaction account holder via the received reply.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction account holder downloads the application.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction account holder installs the application on a mobile device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction account holder logs onto the application by a mobile device.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein a unique device ID is associated with the mobile device of the transaction account holder based on the digital fingerprint of the mobile device.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction is authorized based on both the response to the passively pushed message indicating that the transaction is authorized and the digital fingerprint of the responding device matching a stored digital fingerprint of a mobile device associated with the transaction account holder.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the passively pushed message is received by a mobile device.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the point of sale system is a virtual point of sale system.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the passive pushed message comprises one of requesting authorization of a suspected fraudulent transaction, requesting payment on the transaction account, and the option to initiate a one click communication session.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the payment is requested on the transaction account due to the transaction account being past due or the transaction resulting in the transaction account exceeding a preset limit.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving secure log-on data via the application.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction is initiated via a mobile device of the transaction account holder.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction is authorized based on the transaction account holder submitting a valid payment via the application in response to the passive pushed message.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the transaction account holder transmits secure log-on information to at least one of receive financial transaction account information and make a payment to the transaction account.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the passively pushed message comprises a calculated minimum amount value particular to the instant transaction to cure the declined transaction.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein the second pushed message instructs the transaction account holder to perform a second attempt of the transaction.
 19. A system comprising: a processor for processing a transaction, a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: receiving, by the processor, a transaction request from a merchant point of sale system; declining, by the processor, the transaction request; transmitting, by the processor, a passive pushed message to an application associated with a transaction account holder, in response to and substantially in concert with the declined transaction request; receiving, by the processor, a response to the passive pushed message; storing, by the processor, a preauthorization of a second attempt of the transaction request in response to the response to the passive pushed message meeting pre-established criteria; transmitting, by the processor, a second pushed message to the application associated with the transaction account holder; receiving, by the processor, the second attempt of the transaction request transaction request from the merchant point of sale system; and authorizing, by the processor, the second attempt of the transaction request.
 20. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system for processing a transaction, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising: receiving, by the computer based system, a transaction request from a merchant point of sale system; declining, by the computer based system, the transaction request; transmitting, by the computer based system, a passive pushed message to an application associated with a transaction account holder, in response to and substantially in concert with the declined transaction request; receiving, by the computer based system, a response to the passive pushed message; storing, by the computer based system, a preauthorization of a second attempt of the transaction request in response to the response to the passive pushed message meeting pre-established criteria; transmitting, by the computer based system, a second pushed message to the application associated with the transaction account holder; receiving, by the computer based system; the second attempt of the transaction request from the merchant point of sale system; and authorizing, by the computer based system, the second attempt of the transaction request. 